Once in a lifetime
by XxMEOWxMeWxX
Summary: Mikan Sakura was treated as a male her whole life, though to others people she is Kyo Sakura, the gentleman and husband of every girl’s dream. Civil war approaches and Mikan is forced to fight for her country.
1. The Beginning

**xXx..Once.in.a.lifetime..xXx**

'**XxX'**

Mikan Sakura was treated as a male her who life, though to others people she is Kyo Sakura, the gentleman and husband of every girl's dream. Civil war approaches and Mikan, being the fake son of one of the most powerful and rich plantation dealer is forced to war.

"_Falling in love with the enemy isn't the end of the world… or is it?"_

'**xXx'**

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Reminder:: Mikan will also be called Kyo in this fic and don't forget Mikan's PRETENDING to be a guy

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_**-xXx. Chapter one .xXx-**_

_It's good to hear my thoughts once in a while _Mikan thought as she walked down the hall. _Who knew so many ladies would come to this party? Most of them were crowding around me and their fathers have a… unnatural glint in their eyes._

It was true that Kyo Sakura, who was actually Mikan in disguise, was very popular with the ladies. Not only was he the most gorgeous guy most has every seen but he was also kindest gentleman and the best rider in the country, not even the most stubborn horse can withstand Kyo's charms. He was the heir of Sakura family who is one of the most powerful families in the state not to mention that the Sakura's also have extended their fortune to foreign countries.

"Sakura-sama!" a voice called out. Mikan had to use every drop of self-control she had in her to prevent groaning, running away, or ignoring the call. Instead, she spun around and forced her face into a smile, hoping whatever expression she had on her face resembled it.

"Oh, Sakura-sama! I didn't get a chance to talk to you ever since I arrived! There are so many pesky brats around here today," said a girl heavily dressed with lace.

_And you're one of them, _Mikan thought.

"They mean no harm Lady Shouda," Mikan forced out trying not to notice the flashing eyelashes and the perfume the girl wore. It that was so sweet that it was disgusting.

_Hardly a lady she is_.

"All the talk about war is madness, there ain't going to be one, I wonder why everyone's fussing around the subject all the time," Sumire said.

"Perhaps there will be war, perhaps there won't," Mikan replied. "There've been target practicing and funding all year round. It's all up to the other kingdom.

"Oh, how wonderful you are!"

Mikan almost barfed at that. The girl was so cheesy. None of the girls interested her at all for she's not lesbian and she knew all their tactics. Even though her father insisted not, her mother still taught her how to be a lady and once in a while, she'll go to a party as a girl which, Mikan might add, was incredibly boring.

"Sakura-sama, the dance is starting. Shall we go?"

Sometimes Mikan wished that she wasn't a gentleman or that she wasn't a gentleman with such strict rules for any guy in her position can't afford to reject such an offer.

"Of course, Shouda-san."

Outside, everything was buzzing with life. Most of the men crowded around each other talking about war if they're not courting the ladies and many girls were sitting around bored while a small percentage of them were laughing with their beaux. The married woman and widows sat together talking about their dead husbands or pregnancy.

"HALT!" The voice echoed through the party and caught everyone's attention. Soon, a man appeared ridding on a chestnut brown horse.

"Sire Koko," Mikan's father spoke up. "What is the reason of your appearance today?"

"Sakura-san, it's starting. The war's starting. The other side has already reached south of our boarders and the civilians are the only ones defending them. All troops are to be made in a short amount of time and **the war is to be started**."

Many of the guests, including Mr. Sakura, looked amused while some looked amazed and shocked. A voice shouted: "We'll lick them in a month!" then every gentleman tried to get in their own two cents. While Mikan just stood there calculating.

_The guys here were nuts, there was is no way to lick them in a month for when war starts, how will we get our supplies out to sell and the money to reconstruct the damages and… _

"Kyo-san, good to see you again," Koko interrupted her thoughts.

"Yes, you too."

"It's finally starting…"

"No problem! We can lick them in a month!" said an unwanted voice which belonged to Sumire.

However Koko ignored her. "You joining?"

"Yes…"

_**TBC…**_

_**Review?**_


	2. The Puppeteer

**Once In A Lifetime**

**. 2 –**

**The Puppeteer.**

"_An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." –Gandhi_

_N.Y.A_

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_She looked out of place. She didn't belong here; she wasn't supposed to be there. _

"_I'm sorry," and then the man walked away, leaving him in this blinding silence where everything seemed to be screaming. _

_There she was: her pale, innocent face – the face that he had long engraved into his mind - didn't belong here, on that corpse, unmoving, frozen forever in time. It didn't seem like her, of all people, to be in this state, rotting away second by second. Soon, there'll be nothing left of her other than bones; maybe they wouldn't even bury her. After all, to them, she was just another corpse of the thousands that they've encountered before._

"_Aoi," the lad whispered through chapped lips, not daring to move from his spot, fearing that even the smallest movement would destroy the tranquility of the moment; a piece of memory that would stay with him for the rest of his life._

_Abruptly, he turned around, closed his eyes and clenched his fists. Another moment passed before he made his way to the exit as if detached from the situation. He took a quick glance at her, it'll be the last time he'll ever see her, before whipping his head around and exiting. _

_He left her without any last words, any tears or sorrow. He had chosen this path himself, he made the decision himself. What surprised him was her expression for it wasn't the face of a person angry and frustrated of his failure - perhaps he might even feel better if she was outraged by him - but rather, the face of a person that had believed in a liar even in death._

"_Commencing to rid prisoner 20569," echoed and workers rushed into the room. It wouldn't be long before any existence of her in that room would be wiped out, evidence destroyed. In fact, her whole existence would be destroyed, her body disposed of, her records would disappear. No one would ever remember Aoiyuki Hyuuga's existence; no one except for him. _

"_Let's go, we can't say around here forever." And with that, the boy and the man exited the building into the cold rays of the sun, in a world where colors seemed to overlap and each breath felt like a million little needle pricking one's lungs. "After all, we've a war to fight."_

_The lad followed the man wordlessly onto the dirt road and soon disappeared into the distance._

* * *

"Father, I can't believe this!" she shouted as she pounded her fist onto the table. "It's unreasonable for you to send me off to a military camp, I'm not _meant_ to go to war because I'm a freaking _female _in case you're too busy to notice!"

The man sat behind the antique wooden table, now with a noticeable dent in it, as he statically stared at his daughter.

"I hope you've vented out all of your anger there. I'm sure that you will come to recognize your responsibilities as the Sakura heir to his nation and to his family who've overlooked your development into the person you are today –"

Mikan sniffed, "Some overlooking you did."

" – And I'm quite sure that as a _gentleman_, you would behave like one should behave with proper manners and cease to interrupt his elders."

"But father, I'm not even a – "

"You were raised as a boy, you behave like a boy, in fact, if you ask anyone about the Sakura heir, they'd tell you that he's a male! And as the male Sakura heir, you _will_ fulfill you duties and represent your country."

"…But what if I die? What if I cease to return home?"

"You'll be recognized as a hero whose loyalty would –"

"No, you're misinterpreting my question. How would _you_ feel if I never came back?"

"What I feel would be none of your concern. Now, I had some maids help prepare your luggage, you'll be on your way first thing in the morning."

Silence prevailed the room as she stared at the man in the suit. "I can't believe this," she muttered as she ran her hand through her hazelnut hair. "You know what? I've taken up the role of your son for my whole life, I've lived a life of lies at your request, I've done everything a _son_ would've. But _you_, not once have you taken up your role as a father, and you didn't even need to pretend."

"I've arranged a person to keep an eye on you, just in case you do or say something stupid like this."

Mikan immediately spun around and made her exit, leaving her father to ponder his thoughts.

"You can't make a puppet play the role of something they weren't meant to play forever," he muttered to himself as he opened the top right drawer of his desk and pulled out a small ragged doll that Mikan had made him years ago. Then, he shook his head, "The story always ends badly when the truth is finally exposed." And then, he threw the doll into the garbage can and didn't spend another moment thinking about the discussion that occurred only moments ago.

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When Mikan opened her eyes in the morning, light had started spilled into her room and dawn was already on her way. She sighed as she crawled up from bed and she held her head in her hand, trying to ease the drowsiness away. It felt like her mind was packed, thoughts continued to go around and around in spiral, and in the end, everything went back to the first question.

It might feel like another light, cheerful day if she wasn't going to be torn from everything she has known so far in her life. She might never see her mother's rose gardens or read another novel in the plush chair beside the window of the library. Things wouldn't be the same ever again, and she might as well as enjoy living in the moment before her whole life turns upside down. Her biggest wouldn't be courting the same gender or going to tea parties anymore, but rather a fight to survive.

Mikan walked towards her window and looked outside and tried to soak in as much of the present as she possibly could. The war would change everything forever; she's always found it ironic that so many idiots out there, boys and so called 'men', are so willingly to throw themselves into the war thinking of it as a game than the terrible bloodsheds, the grief, or the pain. And then, once they find out what they're really up against, when their romanticized view of the war is shattered by reality, they begin to fight in hopes that at the end of the war, everything would go back to what things used to be: another daydream. They give no thought to how the war would impact the future.

There was three knocks on the door, "Sakura-sama, your breakfast is ready."

"Thank you, Maria. I shall be down in a few moments." And then she spared one last glance at the scenery at the rolling hills, the verdant grass, the beauty of the clear blue skies and, most of all, the peace and the pleasant silence like sitting under a large oak tree in a humid afternoon and watching time pass by.

Then she head toward the chair to the pre-laid out clothes. That was one last glance of her old life, of what everything was before the war; the war which changed everything.

_**.Chapter 2: End.**_


End file.
